The Sun Has Gone Out
by lizzycm
Summary: What would have happened if Thanos had killed Thor instead of Loki? - BEING TAKEN DOWN FOR REWRITING IN ONE WEEK
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, readers past and present!**

 **(Contains Spoilers for** _ **Avengers: Infinity War**_ **)**

 **What if Thanos had killed Thor instead of Loki? How would the plotline of the movie been different? And would more or less lives been saved?**

 **Please enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Marvel and any of its characters and content, but I can always dream.**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

 _He could do it. He could do it. He just had to be strong._

 _He couldn't do it._

"Alright, stop!" Loki yelled. He should have been strong. He shouldn't have cared about Thor's pained screams as Thanos dug the gem into the god's head. He shouldn't have cared about the bodies that littered the floor of the ship that had once been their salvation. He should have found delight in fact, in Thor's demise, in Asgard's demise. The things he had hated for so long, but he couldn't bear to see them destroyed for some reason.

Thanos relented, and Thor collapsed to the ground. Loki couldn't help but be relieved he wasn't dead.

 _Was he really going to do this? He could still tell Thanos to carry on with the torture. He could still pretend he didn't care._

He held up his hand, releasing the magic that cloaked the Tesseract from detection. It's pale blue glow illuminated the room, making the faces of the bodies on the floor look peaceful, as if they were simply asleep.

He felt the rush of power that flowed through him every time he held the Tesseract in his hand. He ignored it. He knew if he didn't, he'd never let it go. And then where would he be?

"You really are the worst brother," Thor muttered. Loki pretended he didn't hear the insult. Instead, he looked his older brother in the eye and gave him the best thing he could offer: hope. His brother lived off of it.

"I assure you, brother," said Loki, "the sun will shine on us again." He began to move towards Thanos one silent step at a time.

"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian," said the purple Titan.

Loki had to crane his neck to look Thanos in the eye now. "Well, for one thing," he said, "I'm not Asgardian." It used to feel like freedom, telling people he had no relation to Thor. He used to do it just to remind people he didn't really care about any of them. Now, though, the habit brought a twitch of guilt.

"And for another," he continued, "we have a Hulk."

And right on cue, Banner burst through the rubble, green and monstrous and ready to beat the crap out of Thanos. Loki seized the diversion and lunged to the left. He needed a blade, a knife, a sword, _anything_. He didn't bother checking Thor; if the man was still yelling and/or saying stupid stuff, he was fine.

 _Weren't there any blades in that blasted room?_

Loki searched the mass of bodies until he found a knife. He would have preferred something a bit nicer, but when did he _ever_ get what he wanted. The knife would have to do. Although Valkyrie would probably poke fun at him later for using something so elementary.

Thanos and Hulk were finished fighting, and from the looks of it, Thanos had won. Losing was probably a first for the Hulk, who seemed to have been beaten unconscious. Loki couldn't help but wonder how Thanos had done it, and in so little time, too. Then he remembered that the Titan had an Infinity Stone.

Suddenly, Thor came up and swang a metal pole at Thanos. _A metal pole. The idiot._ The noseless one called Maw summoned some metal from the wreckage _with his mind_ , creating an effective prison for the god. Loki tensed, but told himself he had to wait for the right moment. And this was certainly _not_ it. He needed to stay in the shadows until the time was right.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of white light filled the dark room, and everyone automatically looked away. When their heads turned back, Banner had vanished. _The Bifrost. Heimdall must have summoned it._

Thanos looked down upon the man, who was on the ground from his wounds. "That was a mistake," said the Titan. Heimdall turned his head to Thor, and Thanos dug his spear into Heimdall's chest.

 _Was all this really necessary?_

Thor cried out for his friend. Loki felt a twinge in his abdomen for the man who had watched over Asgard for so long, but at least the Mad Titan hadn't killed _Thor_. Heimdall's loss wouldn't impact them _too_ harshly.

You're going to die for that!" Thor cried, and Loki could hear the sadness in his brother's voice. Maw pressed a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. Loki didn't blame him; Thor's heroism could get a bit annoying sometimes. He felt it was too far at Maw magicking the metal clamps around Thor's mouth, though.

Still, Loki stayed in his hiding place. He'd know when the time was right.

"My humble personage ows before your grandeur," said Maw. _Suck up._ "No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one, but _two_ Infinity Stones. The universe lies within your grasp."

Loki bristled, but still didn't move. He'd know when to make his move, and now was not the time. Thanos had to think he'd won. That didn't mean Loki didn't wince when Thanos utterly _shattered_ the cube, though, and pulled out a shining blue gem. _The Space Stone._ He couldn't suppress a shiver as Thanos placed the stone into the gauntlet, next to the power stone.

"There are two more stones on Earth," said Thanos, "find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan."

 _And Loki had thought_ Odin _was a bad father._

"We will not fail you," said Maw. _Now._

Loki firmly held his knife and threw it as hard as he could at the mad Titan's head. He had read a book on Titans once, and knew the only fatal wound was a head wound.

Thanos didn't even flinch. A blue glow surrounded the knife, keeping it from delivering a fatal blow. Thanos looked right at Loki when he said, "You do have nerve."

The next couple of moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Thaos turned the gauntlet towards Thor, and a purple blast issued from it. It hit him like a battering ram, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the God of Thunder was dead. Even gods couldn't survive something like that.

Thanos and his minions then disappeared into a wormhole the Titan opened with the space stone, but not before Thanos used the power stone to destroy the ship. As it burned around them, Loki sank to his brother's side, letting his tears fall freely because there was no one there to see them. And what did it matter? He would join his brother soon, anyways.

The ship exploded, lighting up the Outer Space around it for miles, but the God of Mischief didn't feel a thing. He knew his life was supposed to flash before his eyes, but he severely hoped it didn't.

 _He had been wrong. The sun would not shine on them again. It had already gone out._

* * *

 **I don't know when I'll be able to update, this, but I'll try to do it as often as I can.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, readers present and future!**

 **It's me again. Huge shout-out to everyone who's already followed and favorited my story, and a virtual pastry of your choice to everyone who gave me a review. ;)**

 **It took me a while to figure out how I was going to play this chapter. I knew I wanted the guardians in it. An earlier draft had Loki meet them in a similar way to how they met Thor.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the material. If I did, I'd probably be stinky rich by now.**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

 _Smack!_

Loki's eyes jolted open, frantically scanning his surroundings. Where the heck was he? He seemed to have been acquainted with the side of a ship the way a bug would find themselves acquainted with the side of a car. Namey, it smacked into him.

He couldn't see inside, but he heard a distant "Eew, we're gonna have to clean the ship later, aren't we?" Loki grimaced. These people had probably gotten the distress signal they had sent out and thought they would get rewarded for saving the day, perhaps with some Asgardian gold. _The people you found in this universe._

He noticed ridges in the side of the ship. He puzzled over what benefit the design could possibly have, before he realized it wasn't a design at all. It was a hatch. If he could open it without drawing the attention of whoever was on this ship.

Here's the thing, though: moving in space when you've suffered numerous injuries over the past twenty four hours and you _can't breathe_ is a bit of a challenge. The ship had a sleek design, if a bit outdated, and there was hardly anywhere for a stowaway to pull themselves along to the hatch.

Loki realized he'd have to let go of his hold and wait for the ship to move so that he could grab onto the handle. He thanked the norns that the ship was moving slowly, almost like the occupants were taking a moment to pay their respects to the fallen Asgardians.

It was now or never. The god released his death grip on the side of the ship, counted to three, and grasped the handle for the hatch. He painstakingly pulled it open, and was glad for the surrounding walls of the oxygen chamber being soundproof; the owners of the ship had probably gotten annoyed at the loud whine of air they heard every time a hitchhiker climbed aboard.

"Please wait while oxygen levels are reinstated," said an automated female voice. Loki cringed. Though he was always hearing about how AI was the next thing, the disembodied voices gave him the chills. They brought back memories of other, far more cruel faceless voices.

Suddenly, there wa whirring, and the room filled with air. Loki gulped it down hungrily. Oxygen had never felt so good.

"Oxygen levels restablized," said the feminine voice. Loki opened the door as quietly as he could. He found the medbay, thankfully without running into any of the ship's other occupants. He had intended to simply bandage himself up and find somewhere to hide, but instead, he found himself sinking into the neat bed. Judging by the thin layer of dust that coated the surfaces, this room wasn't used very often anyways.

Now that he was alone, the full weight of the day's events hit him like a ton of bricks. He didn't cry, exactly, but he curled into a ball and rocked back and forth for a while.

Thanos would pay for killing Thor! Loki already had his whole revenge story planned out. First, he would slaughter all of Thanos' "children" in front of him. Then, he would torture the Titan until he begged for mercy, and only then would Loki deliver the fatal blow. To the head, of course.

It had been a while since Loki had slept. His magic could usually sustain him so he could go without, and he had never seen much use in sleeping when he could be finding a new portal out of Asgard or playing some devious prank on his brother. Today, though, fatigue coupled with extreme loss had him laying down on the bed. _I'll just rest for a moment_ , he told himself…

 _He was walking down a corridor. He was back on the ship, which seemed good as new. Like Thanos had never encountered it. Maybe the Mad Titan hadn't. Maybe the past couple of hours had been nay more than a dream._

 _And there was Thor. Loki couldn't keep a slight smile from his face at the sight of his older brother, alive and well. But something was wrong. Loki slowed._

" _You really are the worst brother," said Thor, his attention never wavering from the window he was gazing through. The insult hurt a lot more this time than it had the first time Thor had said it. Loki stiffened._

" _Brother?" he asked._

" _What were you thinking," said Thor, "throwing that knife at Thanos?"_

" _I-" said Loki, not knowing what to say. He had never heard Thor talk to him in that disappointed-angry tone before._

" _Now, because of your foolishness, we are all dead, and you may as well have done it."_

 _That hurt. When Loki threw out insult, he did it because he felt he was supposed to. He could call Thor names all day long, and maybe only mean one of them. But Thor? When he insulted someone, he meant it._

" _I should have killed you when I had the chance," his brother continued. "I shouldn't have hesitated when I found you impersonating Odin on Asgard. Or that moment on Earth atop that hill. Or-"_

" _Stop!" said Loki, "Just stop it. I know you're not real, just some figment of my imagination. The real Thor would admit that this was his fault as much as mine."_

 _Thor finally looked his brother in the eye, and Loki stiffened. His brother's pale blue eyes, usually so bright and full of life, had gone cold, dark. Almost as if Thor's very essence had been removed._

" _Who left father to die on Midgard? Who called for the Bifrost in Norway, allowing Hela to go to Asgard and kill our friends? Who didn't lift a finger while Thanos slaughtered Heimdall?"_

 _Loki had to tell himself this wasn't real. It was just his conscience, playing dirty tricks on him._ It isn't real...it isn't real...it isn't real.

" _Who told that dark elf where to find mother?"_

Loki awoke with a gasp, shaking from head to toe. Maybe it was the shock of the dream, maybe it was simply because he was still so tired, or maybe it was simply because everything seemed to be happening so fast. But Loki didn't notice the gun pointed at his temple until it's user spoke.

"How the hell are you?" said Peter Quill, pressing his gun against their stowaway's temple.

* * *

 **Note: I am changing the rating of this story from "K+" to "T". This was more of a tragic chapter than an action packed one, but I was inspired by a more angsty short story and wanted to write something similar.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, readers present and future!**

 **My first case of writer's block! I seriously had no idea what to write; normally the ideas will just flow onto the page. Anyway, I wrote it eventually, and here it is.**

 **DISCLAIMER: If I owned any of this, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction about it.**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

"Who the hell are you?" demanded Peter Quill, shoving his gun into Loki's temple.

Loki gave himself a moment to get his thoughts in order. He had obviously been discovered by the ship's other occupants, though this man seemed to be alone. Perhaps the others on the ship didn't know they had a stowaway on board their ship yet. Maybe Loki could keep it that way.

"Nobody of much importance," he said, reaching for his magic. Mind altering was a tricky business, disastrous for both parties involved if it was done incorrectly. "Go back to sleep. Do not remember this when you wake."

The god felt the man's will fighting the control, and Loki eased him into compliance. The trick was to make the person believe they _wanted_ to do what you were having them do. Make them _enjoy_ it.

The man turned around and took a few steps toward the door. Suddenly, he stopped, and turned around to look at Loki. "Did you just try to mind-control me?" he asked, outraged. Who did this dude think he was?

Loki was shocked at the man's resistance. He had thought that a mere mortal would have been easy to bend to his will. "Well, yes," he said, as if it were obvious. During times like this, it was often best to stay calm and pretend the unexpected was the expected.

"Drax! Gamora!" Quill yelled. Loki thought he recognized the second name for a moment, but decided he must have heard it in passing somewhere and that it wasn't of any importance.

Drax burst into the room, yelling at an obnoxious volume. Gamora ran in shortly behind him and stopped.

"Peter, why are we here?" she asked hesitantly.

"Why are we here?" said Quill, annoyed. "Don't you see we have a-" He froze as he turned around. Where Loki had been only seconds before, there was now only empty space. The man turned to Drax. "You saw him, right?"

"Saw who, Quill?" Drax asked, confused. _Did they have ghosts?_ the man wondered.

"Peter, you're dreaming. Come on," said Gamora.

"No I _saw_ him. The bastard tried to mind control me," said Quill.

"Okay, fine," said Gamora, "come on." They walked outside and she powered on the ship's main computer. "Ship," she said, "scan for heat signatures."

They waited a moment before the recently-installed AI reported, "Five heat signatures detected." (Groot didn't give off a heat signature because, well, he was made of wood.)

Gamora turned around. "See?" she said, "it was probably just your mind playing tricks on you. I don't doubt we're all a little shaken after what we saw today."

"Or is it?" said an unfamiliar voice from behind them.

The three people turned around to see Loki, holding a gun to a struggling Mantis's forehead.

Gamora yanked out her blade. "Who are you?" she shouted, "How did you get onto our ship?"

Quill pulled out his gun as well and aimed it at the intruder. "Let her go!" he demanded. Mantis was like a little sister to him, to all of them (except maybe Drax - he didn't know _what_ was going on between the two of them).

"Don't you want to hear my very sensible demands first?" said Loki, with a charismatic smile. "I'm sure you must be _dying_ to know why I'm here."

He opened his mouth to say more, when suddenly he felt very...tired. It had been a long day after all. In fact, maybe he would just take a quick nap right...here…

Loki collapsed to the ground, and Mantis released her grip on his arm, stepping away from his dozing form quickly. Gamora gave her a look as if to say _good job_. Then she turned to the stranger. "Help me get him into the front room," she said to Drax and Quill. They both hastened to help her.

"Let's lay him on the table," she grunted. Loki was much heavier than he looked, not to mention how tall he was. The man was good-looking, but not in that dreamy eyed, buff way. More like in the tall, dark, and mysterious way.

"Where the hell did he come from?" asked Quill. A curious Rocket suddenly poked his head into the room; all the noise they had been making must have woken him, if he had even slept at all.

"What's up, you guys?" asked the racoon. He eyed the man on the table suspiciously. "Who's that?"

"We don't know," said Gamora. She had thought his voice had sounded familiar, like she'd heard it somewhere else before. But she got the feeling it was probably a very dark, very deep memory that she probably didn't want to delve into in front of the other guardians. She supposed she might be able to talk to Peter about it later.

"Mantis," said Quill. Mantis nodded and placed her palm on the man's forehead.

"He feels...loss. Extreme loss. Anger. He...he…" Mantis searched for the right words. "He yearns for revenge. He is willing to do anything to get it." She paused. "He feels...regret."

Quill snorted. "Regret?" Gamora gave him A Look, but it didn't stop him from silently laughing to himself. This dude? Regret? Surely not for threatening Mantis or trying to control his mind.

Gamora turned to Mantis. "Wake him up," she said, "but keep him on the calm side, would you?" Mantis nodded.

"Wake," she whispered.

The god jolted awake. He moved to grab the dagger at his waist, but Mantis urged a calming feeling through him. Almost instantly, Loki relaxed, though it was far against his will. _Never underestimate someone, even if they seem weak_. He had learned that on Earth.

He gripped the not-green girl's arm and wrenched it off of him "She touches me again," he threatened, but he thought it best to leave whatever he would do to their imaginations, so he didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he rigidly pushed himself off of the table and confidently strolled towards the green girl.

"You seem to be the captain of this little group," he said to her, "so tell me where we are right now."

Peter cringed. How _dare_ this overly charismatic stranger walk around like he owned the place and threaten his friends - no, _family_ \- like their lives held no consequence. He would have opened his mouth to tell the stranger that _he_ was the captain, but the look on Gamora's face suggested that that was an unwise idea.

"Yes, I'm the captain," she said with a hint of smugness. "We are currently resting in a small asteroid belt, known as the Parva Belt."

"Right," said Loki, "shouldn't be that far off from Titan." He reached for the security lock on the escape pod and simply waved his hand in front of it; his magic made it unlock automatically.

"Hey! That's our pod!" said the racoon.

"So?" said Loki. He reached for the door. Gamora, acting quickly, threw her knife at his hand. He moved it out of the way just in time, and the blade buried itself into the handle.

"Who are you? How'd you get aboard our ship?" she asked, never letting her voice be anything but calm and composed. Gamora could be _very_ intimidating when she wanted to be.

"Alright, if that will satisfy you," the man said without much emotion. "I am Loki, god of mischief, rightful king of Asgard and Jotunheim." It was said without his usual grandeur, as if he were simply talking about the weather.

"Quite a title," Quill remarked.

"There's more, but I don't feel like going into that right now," said Loki, "I got onboard shortly after...hmm, I take it you didn't notice the mass grave, did you?"

Peter gulped. _Oh, god_. They hadn't thought to check for survivors. _Oh, god._ "Do you know if anyone else survived?" he asked, failing to disguise the warble in his voice.

"They most definitely didn't, as they were massacred before Thanos blew the ship," said Loki, disguising his emotions so it seemed like he was simply stating the facts.

Gamora started at the word 'Thanos'. "This isn't his usual quadrant of the galaxy," she said, "which means he sought your ship out. Do you have any idea why?"

"Yes," said Loki, "but this conversation is getting rather dull, so I think I'll just be on my way now."

Gamora had one last question. It was probably nothing, but she had to be sure. "Did it have anything to do with something called an Infinity Stone?" she asked cautiously.

Loki froze. "Yes," he said quietly.

Gamora froze as well. If Thanos was starting to hunt down the infinity stones, that meant he knew where all of them were. Well, most of them. _He still doesn't know where the soul stone is_ , she told herself. The only person she had told about that was Nebula _,_ who was probably intimidating someone in a faraway bar about something.

"Do you know which stones he has already?" asked Quill, jumping into the conversation.

"Space and power," said Loki, wrenching the knife out of the pod handle and examining it. "He'll probably be heading to Knowhere to get the reality stone as we speak. I understand a man known as The Collector has it in his possession."

"Well, then we have to stop him," said Quill, "if he gets another stone, he'll be the most powerful being, like, _ever_."

"Right," said Loki, "you get onto that." And before anyone could react, a brilliant flash of light illuminated the entire ship. When it faded, Loki and the escape pod were gone.

Quill stared. "What the f-"

* * *

Thanos looked around in annoyance at the fake illusion of reality he had created. He had expected the silly guardians to make an appearance by now. But then again, it would probably take awhile for them to find where the reality stone was being kept.

This was a tedious process, but it was a necessary one. He needed Gamora to tell him the location of the soul stone.

He could wait a little longer, he decided. What were a few more hours, anyways? He smiled in anticipation, at the satisfaction he would have after saving the universe.

* * *

 **Dun-dun-dun!**

 **Thanks for reading! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, readers present and future!**

 **Sorry for how bad my last chapter was, but we all have our off days. Anyway, it's the weekend my dudes, so I'm going to make the most of it. Yep. I should be able to update at least on both Saturday and Sunday.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything Marvel and have no intention of using this for profit. (But judging by the name of the website, you already knew that)**

* * *

"Let me just say, that if aliens end up laying eggs in my body, I'm totally sorry for that," said Peter, comfortably hanging from the ceiling, like, well, a _spider_.

Tony rolled his eyes. "If I get another pop culture reference out of you-"

"What I'm trying to say is that someone's coming!" said Peter. _Oh. He must have been able to detect them with his Spidey-senses_ , Tony thought.

"Allies of Thanos, I recommend you surrender if you value your lives," came a voice from the door. They hadn't been seen yet, thankfully. Stephen Strange grabbed pulled Tony by the collar and yanked him out of sight. Peter self onto the ceiling with his web. Even if this _was_ an enemy of Thanos, it didn't necessarily mean that said person would be an ally.

Tony furrowed his brow. He had recognized the voice, but he couldn't place from where. He had a vague feeling that he owed them a drink. Well, Tony Stark owed a lot of people a drink, so it wasn't much of a distinction.

Stephen Strange reached out with his sixth sense for the unfamiliar aura. Except it wasn't unfamiliar. Strange stood up cautiously. "Odinson?" he asked the silence.

"Afraid not," came the reply. Suddenly, Tony remembered who the voice belonged to.

"Strange? You know who you're talking to?" asked Tony hesitantly. The taller man ignored him.

"What are your intentions here?" Strange asked. Tony was impressed at how calm the man was being.

A beat. Then, "Revenge."

"Revenge for what, reindeer games?" asked Tony, standing. He felt quite certain that if Loki was planning to kill them, he already would have. Plus, 'real power' didn't have an army at his back this time around. Tony felt certain he and Strange could take him.

Loki paused. Then, "None of your concern, mortal. By the way, you still owe me a drink."

Strange turned to Tony. "You know him?"

"We've met," said Tony. He raised his voice and added, "When we clobbered him in New York. You?"

"Briefly," said Strange, as if it was of no consequence to sit and have tea with the god of mischief.

"Hey, um, do you know this dude?" asked Peter, sinking down from the ceiling on his web fluid.

"Get back up there," said Tony, protective instincts kicking in. He didn't know _what_ he'd do if something happened to Peter, but he had a hunch it would probably along the lines of 'get murdered by the kid's hot aunt'.

"I don't have any intentions to harm you, as long as you are against Thanos," said Loki, who was growing bored with the incessant back-and-forth.

 _Something isn't right_ , thought Tony. Loki and Thanos should've been best buddies, seeing as Thanos could probably help Loki along to his goal of world domination. "How do we know you aren't playing games with us, Rudolph?"

"I thought you said no more references," Peter muttered, but everyone ignored him.

"Thanos and I have a…" Loki paused for a minute, thinking of the right way to phrase this. "We have a bit of a history together. I wouldn't dream of siding with him even before he…"

"Before he what?" said Strange.

Loki's eyes suddenly widened as they took in Strange's apparel. More accurately, the pendant on the man's necklace. "Did you really bring the time stone _right_ into Thanos' grasp?" he asked. And he had thought the sorcerer an admirable talent!

"We might need to use it!" said Strange.

"Use it how? To bargain for somebody's life? To increase Thanos' power tenfold? Do you even realize what he could _do_ with that?" Loki asked, stepping slowly towards the two men.

"Yeah. Wipe out half the universe, douche," said Strange.

"Erase time so none of us were ever born. Not you, not me, not the kid," he gestured vaguely to Peter, who was still hanging upside-down.

Strange didn't miss a beat, replying with some quippy remark, but for Tony it had struck a nerve. The idea of Peter getting hurt was bad enough, but for him to have never been born? Tony knew he would never let that happen, as long as he lived. Which meant that he would protect the time stone with his life.

"Who is he again?" asked Peter. This was very confusing. For one thing, he didn't see how the man looked anything like a reindeer. For another, the man now seemed to be playing fondly with a long, slanted dagger.

Loki turned to the child. "Loki, god of mischief. There's more, but I don't feel like explaining it to you."

"How do we know you aren't lying to us?" said Strange suspiciously.

 _To tell or not to tell?_ Loki sighed, and gave himself a moment to compose himself so that his voice didn't tremble when he said, "Thanos killed Thor."

"What?" said Tony, taken aback. Loki must have been lying. Thor would never have gone down without a fight. Tony wouldn't believe for one moment that the optimistic, friendly god could be dead. "You're lying."

"He's not," said Peter.

"And how do you know that?" asked Strange. God, if it was something along the lines of 'everyone deserves a second chance'...

"I, uh, recently installed a lie detector in the suit. The, uh, radio, internet, and tracking stuff have all gone down, but I built the lie detector to run off battery power." Peter felt uncomfortable when all eyes turned to him. And was it just the suit bugging up again, or did Tony actually look...proud?

But Tony's pride lasted only for a brief moment before his face fell. If Loki was telling the truth, it meant that Thor was indeed dead. And what the hell had the god of thunder ever done to Thanos?

"Why are you even here?" asked Strange awkwardly. It seemed it was now _his_ job to not be losing it. Never mind that he had just been kidnapped by a noseless Squidward, or been tortured with glass needles!

"Thanos mentioned that he and his allies would regroup on Titan. And imagine the irony - killing Thanos on the planet where first came up with the idea that genocide was a good thing." Loki smiled. It was rather unnerving.

Also, he was now playing with two knives instead of one. Peter had to ask where he was keeping them.

* * *

"I love you, more than anything," said Gamora. She was not afraid to die, right here, right now. Peter was there, even if he was the one with the gun, and if her death saved the universe, then so be it.

"I love you too," whispered Peter. They should have been alone, because the Titan gripping Gamora by the neck did not deserve to hear their words. They should have been saying them while getting married, not with him aiming a gun at her face.

He closed his eyes and fired. But the gun only omitted a stream of bubbles. Thanos laughed. The blue space stone glowed as he teleported himself and Gamora to his ship.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, readers present and future!**

 **I know I said I would update yesterday, but YouTube and cookies happened, so talk it up with them.**

 **My last chapter was short, brief, and not very well planned out. I apologize for that. This one should hopefully be a little better. Some mentions of suicide in this chapter. (Should I change the story to "T"?)**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own none of the content.**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

" _Only one of you will ascend to the throne, but both of you were born to be kings."_

It was the lie he had been fed his whole life, a lie he had spent so much of it believing. When he had found out it was a lie, he had been so angry. And one would suppose he had had right. But _genocide_ and _suicide_ and _adopted_ weren't often said in the same sentence.

The funny thing was, loss tended to put stuff into perspective. He didn't really want the throne anymore, though it was technically his by the rules of succession. But he was content to get his violent revenge, and then join his brother. Though judging by the way things were going, Valhalla certainly didn't hold a place for him.

"How?" asked Strange, jolting the god out of his trance. It took him a moment to realize the wizard was talking about Thor.

"Quickly."

Peter still had no idea what was going on. Tony and the wizard had seemed to know the stranger, but they didn't seem to trust him. The two men seemed to be trusting Peter's lie detector instead.

The truth was, Peter had lied about the detector. It had just been something in Loki's voice, his eyes. He had known Tony and the wizard would have put it off as 'acting'. So Peter had just made up something about a lie detector, and well, now he had to roll with it.

"Are you sure he's not lying?" asked Tony for the millionth time.

"Yeah," said Peter. God, he was growing tired of this interrogation. They had gone outside when they had felt the temperature rising on the ship, but it wasn't much cooler outside. Still, Peter wasn't complaining. First, because he knew he'd just get a lecture from Tony about who's idea to come it had been. And second, because it was his first alien planet! He was very far from home now.

"Do you imbeciles have a _plan_ for when Thanos and his allies will inevitably show up?" asked Loki. He was pleased that he sounded only vaguely bored.

"Matter of fact, I think I might," said Tony, "and it will surely be better than anything _you_ could come up with, Rudolph."

"And what are you insinuating by that?"

"Only that your last plan didn't exactly go your way."

"Guys, _focus_ ," said Strange.

"Quiet, Sherlock, we're having a quip off," said Tony. Alright, now Peter was _very_ confused.

"Now wait just one minute, _Sherlock_ ," said Strange.

"I don't understand a word of what you're saying, mortals, nor do I desire to."

"Asgardians aren't immortal either, Odinson."

"I was aware of that, otherwise Thor obviously wouldn't be _dead_."

This got them to shut up.

"And how did you even kill Maw in the first place?"

Peter raised up a hand proudly. "My idea. We, uh, created a hole in the, uh, ship and let the dude get sucked out into space."

Loki seemed genuinely impressed at this. And he was. A small child defeating one of Thanos' allies _was_ rather impressive. The god wished he had come up with it.

Peter was happy that _someone_ was impressed by his efforts. He wished that Mr. Stark would have been just as impressed. "So," he asked, trying to mirror some of Loki's confidence, "what's the plan?"

* * *

 **Short chapter this time.**

 **An alert will let you go to Europe with Peter Parker, a review will let you go to space with him** _ **and**_ **Loki.**

 **(I saw that on another story and it worked, so I'm trying it out.)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, readers present and future!**

 **This chapter should hopefully be a little longer than my last. (Hopefully) There are some brief mentions of torture in this chapter, and the usual quota of swearing.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own as much of this as I did last time.**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

"If these things circle around and get to Vision…"

Rhodey didn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to. If Thanos' allies got their hands on that stone, well...nobody wanted to think about that. No one ever stopped to consider what they would do if half of their friends were snapped away.

"What do we do?" asked Steve. There it was, that determination in his voice. Even though he may have been afraid, he would be brave for those he loved. Bucky, Sam, Natasha, T'challa, Vision, Wanda, Bruce. They believed in him.

"We open the barrier," said T'challa. Okoye thought she detected a tremor in his voice, but pretended she hadn't. Her king was letting the enemy into their country on _purpose_. He had every right to be afraid.

The king said something to his communicator, but Okoye didn't hear it. M'baku nudged her shoulder. "This shall be the end of Wakanda," he said. He was obviously afraid. For the people around him, fighting, for the people cowering in fright in the rest of the country.

Okoye responded not without fear, but with raw bravery. "Then it shall be the noblest ending in history."

* * *

Peter was the first to spot the spaceship speeding towards them.

"Uh, guys?" he said, pointing. Tony and Strange immediately took cover, and Peter hastened to follow them.

"Is that him?" asked Peter. He had to admit he was afraid of Thanos. He wasn't fearless; but that's not the same as being brave. He could be brave, he decided. He wasn't just fighting for the Time Stone. He was fighting for the lives of all the people who Thanos could hurt: Mr. Stark, Ned, M.J., Aunt May, and everyone else.

He looked around at all the people he might entrust his life to. Mr. Stark was watching the ship carefully, looking for any weakness probably. The wizard was murmuring an incantation under his breath. Loki was-

Where the hell was Loki?

Peter looked out over their hiding space and cursed under his breath, attracting the attention of Tony and Strange. Loki had made no move to conceal himself. He was just leaning against a slab of rubble as if he didn't have a care in the world. He actually looked kind of bored.

What was he thinking? Did he _want_ to be murdered by Thanos? Evidently so, because there he was, looking like this was just a casual Sunday afternoon. Or maybe Loki had just decided to face the enemy quip-then-attack style. Peter wished again that he could be as confident as Loki.

The ship landed. Tony couldn't help but wonder if he might be able to scavenge some of its stuff after the inevitable battle. Imagine how many upgrades he could make to his suit with just the thrusters.

Strange didn't spare the ship a glance, as he was busy creating a protection charm around Tony and the kid. He hadn't been lying when he had said that if it came to Tony, the kid, or the Time Stone, he wouldn't hesitate to let them die. But that was a worst-case scenario. And Loki's words were still haunting him. " _Use it how? To bargain for somebody's life? To increase Thanos' power tenfold?"_

" _Do you even realize what he could_ do _with that?"_

And Strange was afraid. Afraid that if Thanos' wrapped his fist around Tony or Peter's neck, he wouldn't be able to stomach it. And then he would have truly failed the universe. Wong, Christine, even Mordo - they'd all be in mortal danger.

* * *

Rocket steadily landed their ship on Titan's surface, where they had agreed to meet Nebula. For once, Quill didn't try to take the wheel. He doubted he'd be able to fly the ship properly when all he could think about was that that purple monster had Gamora, was probably performing some sadistic torture upon her right at that moment. And the worst part was that he could do nothing.

But he still needed to stop Thanos. Rocket, Groot, Drax, Mantis - they could all die if Thanos won. He wasn't able to save Gamora, but he could still save them. They were like his annoying siblings that he always threw insults at but at the end of the day, he would do anything for.

"I check if anyone's out there," he said. He needed a distraction. He put on his silver mask in case the air was toxic or if there was still some remnants of one of the Great Plagues this planet had suffered. He pressed a button and the door slid open with a _whish_.

He was surprised to see Loki, leaning against some rubble, looking bored. He remembered he had heard the dude saying something about going to Titan. Oh, that man was gonna get it for taking their pod _and_ some of their food, which had been switched out for a sassy note.

"Hey!" Quill shouted. Loki looked up, gave him a brief nod, and then starting muttering something. _The dude is probably dissing me off_ , thought Quill.

"Hey!" he said again. Loki gave him an annoyed look, then went back to his muttering.

Quill stepped out onto the ship. The gravity seemed pretty stable, though slightly _bouncier_ than he was used to. He opened his mouth to get Loki's attention again when he was hit in the side with a burning burst of light. He slammed into the ground hard. He couldn't get enough air, and he ripped his mask off. He lay there on his side, panting. His other hurt really bad, but he was afraid to look at it.

"Quill?" Drax called out.

Tony flew over to examine the creature with the silver face, only to see a _human_ lying on the ground, panting. He supposed the silver was some sort of mask. He bent down to check the dude out when he was blasted by a…racoon?

Had he accidentally put scotch in his suit's hydration system again? It wouldn't be the first time. He spun around and blasted at the ramp, causing the two people, the racoon, and a tree (definitely put some scotch into the hydration system) to fall hard.

Drax gave a mighty yell and ran for their attacker, only to only to have some web fluid stick his feet to the ground. "Guys!" he yelled.

Loki continued leaning against the large slab of rubble. He'd stop them in a minute, but right now he was enjoying watching them go at each other's throats. He wished he had some of that midgardian snack called "pop-corn" to add comedy to the situation. Well, we can't get everything we want.

Finally, he decided he'd get it if he let it continue any longer. He held up his hand, letting a burst of magic separate the two groups. Everyone except Tony, Strange, and Quill was knocked to the ground. Loki pushed himself up and said, "You do realize you're on the same side, right?"

"You couldn't have told us that five minutes ago?" asked Quill, annoyed.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Jurassic Park over here," said Tony, furious.

"Huh?" said Quill, not getting the reference.

" _Jurassic Park_ ," said Tony, "ya' know? The movie with the dinosaurs? You're a dead ringer for one of the main characters."

"Wait, you two know each other?" asked Rocket, pointing between Tony and Loki.

"We've met," said Loki stiffly. He didn't really want to go into detail about New York right now. He didn't need to remind Tony about other reasons not to trust him.

Tony spared the god one more angry glance. They needed to be joining forces and coming up with a plan, not going at one another's throats. When this was all over, he planned to give the guy a good smack in the jaw.

Didn't Loki understand everything that was at risk? Didn't he have someone worth fighting for? Every time Tony wondered why he fought time and time again, he remembered all the people who could die if he didn't. Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Peter, Bruce. Did Loki have a list?

Suddenly, there was a loud _whizz_ overhead. Both groups looked up to see a silver pod zooming over their heads. "That'll be Nebula," said Quill.

Loki paused. Nebula? He definitely recognized that name. And he knew from where.

* * *

 **Dun-dun-dun!**

 **So, this is officially my second longest chapter. Yay me! Free virtual dessert to everyone who leaves a review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, readers present and future!**

 **First, I want to apologize. I am not doing very well at updating this as often as I used too. Also, the chapters seem to be getting worse and worse. Aack! Hopefully this one is a little better.**

 **If anyone has any writing advice, I NEEEEEED IT! ASAP**

 **There is some torture in this chapter, but it doesn't go into detail or anything.**

 **Happy reading!**

 **DISCLAIMER: Wow, I wonder how much of this I own? None.**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

2011, The Sanctuary

 _He woke up with a jolt. He didn't know where he was, he didn't recognize his surroundings. He tried to sit up, but found his hands and feet were tied to whatever he was laying on. Everything was hazy._

 _The last thing he remembered was letting go of Gungnir and watching Thor yelling for him. The look in Odin's eyes as Loki begged for approval - anyone would have let go._

 _Was this Hel? It didn't look like the stories said it did. There was supposed to be fire and screaming, tortured souls. This looked more like a cluster of structures built on floating space rocks. But, of course, Loki personally hadn't met anyone who had been to Hel, so the place could look like anything._

 _He heard voices, coming from behind him. He reached out with his sixth sense to listen in, but something was blocking his magic. Now he was starting to really panic. He needed to know where he was - now._

" _Excuse me?" he asked, trying to sound casual, like he was absolutely okay with his current position. Being confident had helped him out of a lot of tricky situations in the past._

 _The voices paused. Then, the trickster heard a firm, clear voice. "Nebula, go and assist our guest." The voice gave Loki chills for some reason. Maybe it was the rigid command behind it, or maybe it was just that the god was in a very vulnerable position. Or perhaps a combination of both._

 _A blue woman came into his view. She didn't have any hair, and her face wore a look of cold disdain. Loki supposed that this must have been Nebula. It was a useful skill he had picked up many decades ago, getting on a first name basis with your captors._

 _She looked him in the eyes, emerald green meeting empty black. Then, she nodded and said, "Welcome to the Sanctuary." And Loki's eyes widened when he saw what she was holding, and he couldn't stop a tremor of fear from moving through his body._

" _This is going to hurt," she said emotionlessly._

* * *

Present Day

Loki lunged at Quill. "You were working with Thanos this entire time!" he shouted. He drew a knife he had taken from their ship and moved to draw blood from the mortal in any way he could.

"Dude, we're not working with Thanos!" Quill tried to say, but Loki didn't care. They had fooled him once before, and they wouldn't fool him a second time.

"Loki, stand down!" shouted Strange. He waved his hands, and a magical rope wrapped itself around the god, keeping him from harming any of the guardians.

The doctor turned to Quill. "Now," he said, "why did Loki think you were working for Thanos?"

"Because of me," said a metallic voice. Nebula jumped down from a pile of rocks and landed semi-gracefully. "I've done my share of evil in Thanos' name. Some of it less humane than even he deserved."

There was a sharp intake of breath as everyone realized what that meant, and glanced at Loki, who hated the pity behind their gazes. There were some parts of his life he was less proud of than others, and he didn't like bringing them up.

Tony powered up one of his blasters, preparing for another fight. He was confident he and Strange could take the plucky group, but there was also Peter to worry about, and Tony knew he would stand down if a gun was held to the kid's head.

"But I swear," said Nebula, looking Loki in the eye as she said this, "that I despise Thanos as much as all of you combined, and I will not stop until I have gotten my revenge."

Tony and Strange turned to Peter, and it took him a moment to realize they wanted confirmation from him, or, more accurately, his lie detector. "Uh," he said, glancing over at the blue woman and tried to see if there was any evidence that she was lying. "She's telling the truth."

Tony sighed and lowered his blaster, relieved that another fight wasn't going to break out. He made a mental note to ask the kid if he could help him install a lie detector in the Mark 51.

"So you're after revenge now, eh?" asked Loki, who was still bound by Strange's magic rope. "I'm afraid there's a bit of a line for that, darling."

* * *

2011, The Sanctuary

 _He did not know how long it lasted. How they knew exactly the right places to put the blades so that they caused unrelenting pain. How they had even found him and taken him to that place at all._

 _He didn't scream. It was the last piece of dignity he had, and he held onto it like a lifeline. It probably was. He didn't scream, but he did close his eyes. He didn't want to have to see the devices they used._

 _After they were done, they unceremoniously tossed him into a bleak, empty cell. So many places were hurting, but he didn't give them the benefit of his weakness. Instead, he forced himself into a sitting position against the wall and used some magic to create the illusion that he had never left his throne at all._

 _The door opened soundlessly, and a hooded figure stepped into the room. It was a woman, judging by her stance._

" _Now that you have been shown our hospitality here, I figured you would be more open to answering our questions," said the woman. It wasn't the blue woman, but he recognized the voice. She had been there, too. He showed no outward recognition, though._

" _Perhaps," he said idly, letting his gaze wander. He knew it must have been driving her crazy, him appearing as if they had never done anything to him at all. He decided to play that card for all it was worth._

" _Let's start with something simple," said the woman, "what's your name?"_

 _Loki looked at her, and was pleased at how easily he could feign being bored. "Why do you want to know?"_

" _I don't. Thanos does," she said. She was surprised when he only gave a harsh laugh._

" _Thanos," he said, "is that the purple one with the deep voice?"_

 _The woman was growing agitated now. "The more stubborn you are, the more torture you'll have to endure. You'll be doing yourself a favor by telling us what we want to know now, rather than when Thanos breaks out the big guns._

 _Loki paused a moment. What was the harm in giving this woman a teaser, if only to agitate her more? He looked up at her, pretending to have processed what she had said. "If you tell me your name, I'll tell you mine."_

 _She paused. Sighed. "Gamora," she said, "daughter of Thanos."_

 _Loki laughed. "Is that so? I imagine you had a rather rough childhood, didn't you?"_

" _Your name," Gamora said, trying to sound cold and tough. She had already deduced that the man must have been a sorcerer, and she had never thought the first sorcerer she met would be so darn_ stubborn _._

" _Loki," he said, "son of nobody."_

" _Everybody has_ someone _," she said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice._

 _Loki gave her a long, hard look. "I think that's enough questions for today," he said. She didn't press it. If he would rather be tortured, then so be it._

* * *

Present Day

"So, what finally made you see the light?" asked Loki. Nebula inwardly groaned, remembering Gamora saying something about how stubborn he was.

Thanos began to have Gamora and me battle one another," she said, wanting to avoid another fight, "every time I lost, he would replace a piece of me with machine. And she won, every time."

"Yow," siad Loki, "guess there's bad parenting all around."

"When I left him, I swore that nothing would stop me from my revenge. I assure you, I _will_ be the first in line when it comes time to kill Thanos." Nebula gripped her electric sword, picturing how Thanos would look when his head was cut clean off. It had to be his head, because that was the only blow fatal to a Titan.

"Good. Because he's opening a portal here right now," said Loki, "so I suggest we commence with the plan."

* * *

 **Let me just say that I loved writing that conversation between Loki and Gamora. If enough people like as much as I do, I might write more of these flashbacks.**

 **Desperately need reviews. Everyone who leaves a review will get to help Tony and Peter build the Mark 51, and everyone who has already reviewed gets to help Peter build his lie detector beforehand so that Tony doesn't get mad at him.**

 **Have a nice day! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello, readers present and future!**

 **I hope you liked my last chapter. I personally thought it was better than some of my previous ones. Let's try and keep that streak up, shall we?**

 **Also, I couldn't figure out a way to work this into the story, but Dr. Strange** _ **did**_ **look forward in time to see how many futures they would win. It was five this time, but there were even more variations, so their odds are still about the same, if not less.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here. I'm sure I'd know if I did.**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

"So," Peter whispered nervously, crouched down behind a large piece of wreckage with Loki and Tony, "I take it you two have a history together? I mean, from the way you greeted one another, I could tell you must have known each other before today. I mean, where do you know each other from?"

Tony glanced at Loki who was fixated on Strange waiting on the steps of some long-gone monument. Loki seemed to be paying Peter no attention, choosing to look for any weakness possible while Thanos would hopefully be talking with Strange. Tony told Peter, "We met when the Avengers first assembled, back in New York. He's Thor's younger brother."

Loki tensed at the mention of Thor, and almost spat out his default denial of his relation to the god of thunder, purely from old habits. The truth was, a conflicting set of emotions came up whenever he thought about Thor. Years of hatred and jealousy. Years of love and care. And sadness, because he'd never see that stupid grin or hear his brother's voice ever again. Someone like him would not be joining his brother in Valhalla.

"Be quiet, or Thanos will detect us," muttered Loki, his lips barely moving. In fact, his sentence could have easily been mistaken as the whistling breeze. Peter would have to ask him how he did that, later. It might be a useful trick for sneaking away to do hero stuff with Ned.

Peter shifted his position so that he could see what was going on. A shiver went through him when he saw the foe they would be facing: Thanos. The Titan was a sort of pinkish purple, and he wore a golden glove on his right hand. There were four gems on this glove: purple, blue, red, and orange. The Titan had opened a portal with the blue gem, and said portal was closing itself behind him.

Tony felt a small surge of relief when he saw that Thanos did not yet possess the mind stone. If Thanos had the mind stone, he would have probably killed Vision to get it, and probably Wanda too, because she would rather die than let the Mad Titan hurt Vision. But if there was no yellow glow from Thanos' gauntlet, it meant that those two, at least, were still alive.

The Titan surveyed his surroundings. There was no sign of his Black Order yet, but he could wait. Maw would arrive soon with the time stone, Proxima with the mind stone. And then, the universe would be saved.

Suddenly, he heard a voice. "Oh, yeah. You're much more of a Thanos."

He turned around. A man in a red cape with brown hair was sitting on the steps that used to be City Hall. What drew the Mad Titan's eye, though, was the golden necklace omitting a green glow, which was hanging around the wizards neck like jewelry.

Thanos looked away, expecting an ambush. "I take it that Maw is dead," he said, a small amount of sorrow in his words. Maw had been one of his most loyal and powerful servants, and his death must have been painful. But he had known the cost of his mission, and he had been prepared to experience loss.

Strange nodded, staring at the ground. He felt slightly awkward. How did one go about talking with a man they hated about said man's servant who you also hated and helped kill?

"This day extracts a heavy toll," said the Titan, "still, he accomplished his mission." He looked down at the eye-shaped pendant on the necklace. The time stone. It called to him. It _wanted_ to be with its fellow stones. It _wanted_ to be placed in the gauntlet.

"You may regret that," said Strange calmly, "he brought you face to face with a master of the mystic arts." And the smartest man on Earth, an enhanced spider-child, a group of ragtag space pirates, and a supposedly dead god, but as far as Thanos knew, they were the only two on the planet.

"And where do you think he brought you?" asked Thanos, and Strange didn't miss

the cool threat concealed in the Titan's words.

Strange glanced around at the desolate planet. "Let me guess. Your home?"

Thanos gave a sad look. "It was. And it was beautiful." He held up the gauntlet, and everyone braced themselves when the reality stone began to glow a brilliant red. But instead, the world _transformed_. No longer was it a ruined, war-torn planet, but a clean utopia, filled with happy people.

"Titan was like most planets," Thanos began, "too many mouths, not enough to go around. When we faced extinction, I offered a solution."

Strange looked around at his transformed surroundings. "Genocide," he said, not bothering to hide how much he disagreed. Thanos was insane.

Thanos continued, "At random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass." The reality stone glowed again, and the surroundings turned back into the destroyed version of Titan.

Loki bit his lip. He heard this story before, long ago. Reading in the Asgardian library while Thor was out in some great battle. He remembered reading about how someone had suggested mass murder to help the planet. He had actually been interested in the Titan's point of view, and what had led him to that idea. And maybe, Loki still would have had the same interest if Thanos hadn't killed Thor.

"Congratulations. You're a prophet," said Strange sarcastically.

"I'm a survivor," replied Thanos, gazing at some point in the distance.

"Who wants to murder trillions," said Strange, not looking away from the Titan.

Thanos sighed, as if he was talking to a small child who didn't understand anything yet. "With all six stones, I can simply snap my fingers-" he snapped with his hand without the gauntlet, as if to demonstrate, "-they would all cease to exist. I call that-" and by "that", he meant murder, not people ceasing to exist "-mercy."

Strange stood up. "Then what?"

Thanos gestured toward the wreckage. "I finally rest." He paused. "And watch the sun rise on a grateful universe." He looked down. "The hardest choices require the strongest wills."

"I think you'll find our will is equal to yours," said Strange. He pressed his wrists together, and when he pulled them apart, there were golden shields on each hand.

Thanos looked directly at Strange for the first time. "Our?"

While Thanos and Strange had been talking, Tony had been discreetly moving away from Peter and Loki, to the large piece of rubble they had balanced on top of an old structure. He now brought it crashing down on the Mad Titan, who didn't even have time to use one of the stones before he was utterly crushed.

"Piece of cake, Quill," Tony quipped. Man, that had felt good.

"Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off!" said Quill, blasting off on his rocket-boots, his mask forming around his face.

Loki jumped down from the top of the church, a fall that would have killed a mortal, but he took easily. Peter was quick to follow. Loki quickly summoned a freshly sharpened blade, much nicer than the one he had tried to use before, and sent three duplicates in opposite directions.

And not a moment to soon, because the piece of rubble Tony had smashed Thanos with exploded a brilliant violet color. Thanos was yelling from the pain or the effort of using the stone, or possibly both. Or perhaps it was a battle cry.

The reality gem glowed a bright scarlet, and nobody had time to brace themselves before a million tiny metal birds started chasing after Tony, who immediately started flying away as fast as he could.

Suddenly, a wad of sticky web fluid hit Thanos in the eyes, and he yelled, scrambled to get it off. Drax ran forward and placed a sturdy cut in Thaos' leg. Loki aimed closely and threw his knife exactly at the place where the Titan was already bleeding, and allowed himself a small grin when the knife stayed in the wound rather than falling out.

Strange appeared through one of his golden portals and started attacking Thanos with a magical whip. Thanos successfully knocked Drax to the ground, and grabbed Strange's whip mid-swing.

Loki ran up behind Thanos and dug his second blade into Thanos' exposed back, causing a grunt of pain from the Titan. Purple blood covered the god's hands, and he relished it.

Quill came up from behind Thanos and started shooting at the Titan's already wounded back. Loki quickly grabbed his knife and moved out of the way, more in concern of losing the only good knife he had at the moment than protecting himself from Quill's blasters, which wouldn't cause much damage for an Asgardian.

Strange waved his hands, allowing glowing golden platforms to appear so that Quill could almost run in midair. The human used the leverage to place a grenade on Thanos' back. He shot Thanos the bird before jumping back into a portal that Strange opened up behind him. Quill was actually rather enjoying this.

The grenade exploded, sending the Titan to his knees. "Don't let him close his fist," Strange whispered, and his cape obediently flew to Thanos' and wrapped itself tightly around the gauntlet. Thanos grunted and attempted to rip off the cape, but Strange opened up yet another glowing portal, and Peter Parker flew out.

"Magic!" shouted the child, jumping past Thanos and into another wormhole. He appeared through another one and grabbed Thanos' head, yelling "More magic!" before disappearing again. "Magic with a kick!" he shouted, giving Thanos an admirable kick in the chest, then disappearing. "Magic with a-" But this time, Peter didn't get to finish, because Thanos grabbed him around the neck and slammed him onto the ground.

"Insect," he whispered, moving to throw Peter in Strange's direction and knock them both down. But instead, he felt an agonizing pain as Loki dug his knife into the Titan's back and twisted it, hard. He let out an agonizing yell, and reached for Loki's neck, leaving Peter lying on the ground.

Suddenly, though, there was a loud boom, and a fiery explosion, and Loki chose this moment to slip out of Thanos' yelled, frustrated, as Iron Man flew down at him, shooting every missile he had at the Titan.

Thanos yelled in frustration and used the power stone to absorb the fire, before shooting it back at Tony, who promptly dodged. "Careful over there, Rudolph," he managed to quip before dodging a piece of falling rubble.

Peter swung around from another of Strange's portals and wrapped his web fluid around the gauntlet, pulling as hard as the teenager could muster. But Thanos grabbed the fluid and pulled Peter towards him, giving him a hard punch in the jaw. Thanos ripped the web off of his glove, but didn't even have time to pause for breath before Nebula's ship rammed into him like a speeding truck, effectively knocking him to the ground. The Titan had only just barely found his feet when Nebula jumped, seemingly out of nowhere, and gave a hard punch with the _metal_ arm.

Nebula spun around and whipped out an electric sword. "Well, well," said Thanos, wondering how she had escaped.

"You should've killed me," said Nebula.

"It would've been a waste of parts!" shouted Thanos. Nebula lunged at him, but she wasn't alone in her attack. A certain green eyed trickster had joined her in her attack, both of them taking turns going at the Mad Titan.

"I don't need your help!" Nebula shouted at Loki. The cyborg then turned to Thanos. "Where's Gamora?" she asked - well, more like demanded. Thanos chose this moment to knock both of his attackers to the ground, rather than answer the question.

"So much for Team Vengeance," said Loki, chuckling. Nebula shot him a dirty glare, and Loki gave her a flirtatious smile in return.

Strange flung a series of ropes that looked like molten metal at Thanos, successfully wrapping them around the gauntlet. Thanos struggled, but he couldn't get them off. Drax slid over and kicked the Titan in his already injured leg, causing Thanos to fall to his knees.

Quill aimed carefully as he flew above the scene. He only had one shot at this. He pulled the trigger. The device he had made himself landed on the ground near Thanos' foot, successfully sticking Thanos' gauntlet-free hand to the ground. Spidey swung around and wrapped his web fluid around Thanos while Tony flew down and started pulling on the gauntlet as hard as he could.

Strange opened another portal, and out came Mantis, who fell promptly on the Mad Titan's shoulders. The empath quickly wrapped her hands around Thanos head and concentrated hard on making him _calm_. She grunted with the effort, but Thanos was subdued.

"Is he under?" asked Tony, "Don't let him up."

"Be quick," Mantis grunted, "he is very strong!"

"Parker? Quill? Help!" said Tony, and both immediately came over and started helping Tony remove the gauntlet.

"I thought you'd be hard to catch," grunted Quill, yanking at the gauntlet, "for the record, this was my plan."

"Perhaps if you could _shut up_ until we have this thing off!" shouted Tony.

Loki and Nebula came running over. Nebula sheathed her electric sword, but Loki kept both his daggers out. They were moving to help with the effort to remove the gauntlet when Thanos spoke up.

"I...had...too," he muttered.

"Had to what?" shouted Nebula, stepping up to Thanos.

"He feels tremendous loss," said Mantis, visibly shuddering.

Suddenly, Nebula went pale as all the pieces clicked together. Thanos had left for Vormir with Gamora, and he came back with the soul stone. She remembered the rumors she'd heard about the cost of possessing that stone. And she realized what Thanos had done. And just like that, every bit of her self control snapped in two.

"You-" she hurled every unprintable name under the sun at Thanos, lunging for his throat. Loki wrapped his arms around her and held her back, but she still struggled. He finally grabbed one of his blades and knocked Nebula over the head with it, effectively knocking her out.

"Ah, the last Odinson standing," said Thanos. Loki froze. Everything in him told him to use his blade on Thanos, but he remained as he was.

"After they remove your fancy toy, I _will_ kill, and it will be fast or painless, mark my words," said Loki, snarling.

"Once they remove that gauntlet?" Thanos laughed. "Once they remove that gauntlet, all the stones will be redistributed to their respective locations, and everyone here will go on pretending this never happened. Except for you. I take you no longer desire the throne so much anymore."

Loki stiffened. He told himself to ignore Thanos. Thanos was insane. But the Mad Titan continued.

"You and I both know that the only way for you to get your brother back is a fully assembled gauntlet. And we both know that you wouldn't be able to wield it without-" the Titan smirked, "-frying yourself. But if you ally yourself with me, well, you might just see your brother again."

Loki felt rooted to the spot. He felt like there was a large bilgesnipe sitting on top of him; he couldn't breathe. He imagined Thor's stupid smile and his dumb laugh. His older brother would've hated what he was about to do.

* * *

Even when Wanda had come down to assist with the fight, they were sorely outnumbered. Any idiot could see that. Not even the combined abilities of the Scarlet Witch, some of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and Wakandan tech could win this fight. Which meant that sacrifices had to be made.

Everyone had known they probably wouldn't all make it out alive, but Steve's optimism had always had him assuming they would win every battle. Now, though? He wasn't so sure. Thanos' army seemed unending, and there seemed to be no hope.

Suddenly, Steve's earpiece crackled. "Guys?" Rhodey. "We have a bit of a Vision situation."

Wanda's voice came over the earpiece. "I've got it." Steve knew that her and Vision had a special relationship, and he couldn't begin to imagine what this must be like for her. But his own words from earlier were coming back to haunt him. _We don't trade lives._

Even if they managed to safely extract the stone from Vision's head, what wouldn't stop Thanos from swooping in and taking the stone? They would have saved Vision, but doomed half the universe. They had to chose. And sometimes, the best option wasn't always the easiest one.

Steve pressed his finger to the earpiece. "Wanda," he said, "I'm sorry, but if Thanos gets that stone..." He paused. "Do it. Now."

* * *

 **Thank you so so much to** **melloschocolatecake** **for you're awesome advice! I was really just going to improvise the fight for this chapter, but reviewing the footage was so much better!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's my longest one yet! ;)**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, readers present and future!**

 **This is not the last chapter, so there's still time to prevent the snap (15 reviews, guys, 15 reviews, that's all I ask for).**

 **Also, I should probably explain why Rocket and Groot weren't in the last chapter, seeing as they didn't go off with Thor in this universe. Rocket knew an old friend who he thought might be able to help, so he and Groot went to find him.**

 **DISCLAIMER: Do I really have to keep doing this?**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

When Nebula came to, she thought she was still dreaming. She was on Titan, she knew that, but it wasn't the Titan she had been knocked out on. The place looked as if it had been attacked. There were purple scorch marks everywhere, and the moon was missing from the sky.

She forced herself to her feet and looked around for any of the others. The last thing she remembered was lunging at Thanos when she found out what that monster had done to her sister, and Loki holding her back. She guessed that Loki had probably knocked her out with his dagger (she'd have done the same), but she had no idea how long she had been unconscious for.

She heard muffled voices from behind her and slowly turned around, moving slowly towards the source.

"...did we win again?"

"Five."

"And how many were there?"

"Seven-hundred million, thirty thousand, twenty five."

"How many would be possible after what just happened?"

"One."

Nebula chose this moment to clear her throat. Tony and Strange both visibly jumped. Both looked like they had been through hell. Tony was using his suit to heal a stab wound in his stomach. Strange was staring at a ring on his right hand, fiddling with it.

"What happened?" she asked. Glancing around, she realized there was no sign of the guardians or the kid or Loki. "Where did everyone go?"

Both men looked pained. "We don't know," said Strange, "everything happened so fast. They're probably buried in the rubble, or on the other side of the planet. But it would be impossible to find them."

"Peter got knocked unconscious," said Tony, "Strange thinks he might have a concussion. He also injured his foot. Nothing a little trip to the Stark Industries Hospital won't fix." Nebula noticed that the usual energetic tone in Tony's voice was gone, replaced by a sad tone.

"I can try to contact Quill," she said. Tony nodded and looked down at his feet. Nebula noticed the his suit seemed to have been ripped apart.

She fished around in her pocket for a while and found the communicator she had stolen from Thanos. The cyborg attached it to her ear and pressed her finger on it. "Quill. This is Nebula. Come in. Over."

There was a minute of silence. Then, a garbled message: "Nebula...okay...where...you guys?"

"Can you repeat that? Over."

"...all...okay...where...you?"

Nebula turned to Strange. "Can you blast something into the sky so they can find us?" The wizard nodded and sent a large beam of golden light into the air. Nebula pressed on the earpiece again. "Do you see that?"

A beat. Then, "Yes."

"Come towards it. The wizard sent it up. Over."

There was a couple minutes of awkward waiting. Then, they heard a dragging sound. Strange opened a portal, and Quill, Mantis, and Drax stumbled out. They all had purple scorch marks across their middles, and one of Drax's pant legs was soaked with blood. They promptly collapsed onto the ground, panting.

"What happened?" asked Strange, rushing forward to help them to their feet.

"Thanos hit us with this purple energy from the power stone," said Quill, nursing his middle. "We woke up in this little ditch in the rock. Also, what happened to the moon?"

"Drax is hurt," said Mantis. All eyes shifted to her. "A piece of rubble fell onto his leg. He needs a doctor."

"I used to be a neurosurgeon," said Strange, "let me take a look at it."

Someone was missing. "Wait a minute," said Nebula, "where's Loki?"

Everyone's faces became grim - well, actually more grim. There seemed to be a certain tension among the group, but Nebula couldn't pinpoint the source. Finally, Strange sighed.

"After Loki knocked you out, Thanos was telling him that the only way to bring Thor back would be to side with _him_. Well…"

* * *

Two Hours Earlier

" _Once they remove that gauntlet?" Thanos laughed. "Once they remove that gauntlet, all the stones will be redistributed to their respective locations, and everyone here will go on pretending this never happened. Except for you. I take you no longer desire the throne so much anymore."_

 _Everyone felt a tremor of fear go through them. The idea of Loki attempting to destroy New York was scary. The idea of Thanos wiping half the population was even scarier. But the idea of Thanos and Loki teaming up was the scariest one of all._

" _You and I both know that the only way for you to get your brother back is a fully assembled gauntlet. And we both know that you wouldn't be able to wield it without-" the Titan smirked, "-frying yourself. But if you ally yourself with me, well, you might just see your brother again."_

 _Loki had gone completely still, his face wearing an unreadable expression. Tony tugged a little harder and - yes! The gauntlet was off of Thanos hand. "Reindeer Games!" he shouted, grinning stupidly despite himself._

 _Peter noticed the knife in Loki's hand. He opened his mouth to warn - well, everyone, but then felt a jolt in his right foot as Loki's knife embedded itself into it. He cried out, and Tony's attention turned to him for just the briefest of moments. And that brief moment cost them everything, because Thanos used to yank the gauntlet back onto his purple hand and fling Quill, Tony, and Peter to the side before violently shaking Mantis off his shoulders._

 _Peter dimly felt himself hitting the ground, and a splitting pain in his head, but it was as if this were happening to someone else, or perhaps he was dreaming. Yes, that was it: he was dreaming. Because he had heard the pain in Loki's voice, and had_ lied _for the dude because of it. Had Loki killed Thor? No, Peter didn't quite believe that. But he didn't know what to believe anymore._

 _Tony quickly flew upwards, instinct taking over. Whenever he felt threatened or scared, it had become his first instinct to take to the sky over the last ten years. Looking down at the scene from above had always allowed him a way to figure out a solution, a way to win. But he couldn't see any way out of this now._

" _Tony, look out!" came someone voice through the earpiece. Tony rotated just in time to see the moon hurtling towards him, an unstoppable force. If he were sitting in his lab, maybe with Bruce, they'd probably find this fascinating, and would be analyzing the hell out of this. But Tony wasn't in his lab, he was trying to flee a freaking moon!_

" _Strange, I could use a little help here!"_

 _But Strange had his own problems to deal with. Namely, protecting the time stone._

 _He made about fifty duplicates of himself (the more the merrier) hoping to confuse Thanos and Loki. But suddenly, all his duplicates disappeared, leaving only the original behind. It figured that Loki would be familiar with that trick._

" _You're gonna be falling for a_ long _time, Odinson!" Strange shouted, opening a sling ring under Loki's feet._

" _I'm afraid I'm a little short on time, Strange," said Loki, and Strange mentally cursed when Loki vanished, only to appear somewhere else. Right. Loki's damn duplicates._

 _Suddenly, Strange felt himself being dragged backwards, and felt the cool metal of the gauntlet wrap around his throat. He opened a sling ring and quickly transported himself to a high ledge, hopefully beyond the gauntlet's range._

 _Thanos flung what looked like a spinning purple wormhole at the sorcerer, and he acted quickly, so that the hole became a bunch of little green butterflies. Thanos grunted, swatting at them He hated bugs._

 _Strange wasn't done yet, though. He pressed his hands together and pulled them apart, shooting golden lightning at Thanos._

Lightning. _Loki didn't need the mental reminder that Thor would not approve of this. But Loki was doing it anyways, because as much as he tried to deny it, he needed his brother. Loki was doing this for Thor, and if his plan worked out, Thor would never need to know about this at all._

 _Thanos easily jumped to avoid the lightning and shot a violent beam of energy at Strange, who it turn sent it through a portal to the mirror dimension, throwing the portal at Thanos. Was it to much to hope that the Titan could be trapped in the mirror dimension? Apparently yes, because Thanos destroyed the portal and pulled Strange to his grasp yet again. "You're full of tricks, wizard," Thanos said as he yanked off the necklace and crushed it in his large, purple hand. "But you never once used your greatest weapon."_

 _Thanos was suddenly distracted by a red thing clamping down on his gauntlet. And there was Tony Stark, landing on the ground with a grunt. "You throw another moon at me," Tony said, arming his missiles, "and I'm gonna lose it." And then, he let the missiles fly, pleased at the "Come on!" he heard from Thanos before they exploded._

 _Thanos ripped the red thing off his gauntlet with a grunt, and sent a beam of purple energy at Stark. Stark held up a shield to protect himself (how he hated shields...but they always came in handy somehow). What Tony was not expecting was the knife in his shoulder, or the way it would hurt when it was coldly yanked out. He gasped and fell to the ground, and it was all he could do to keep up his shield when a voice shouted, "Stop!"_

 _All eyes, or at least all conscious eyes, which was just Tony, Thanos, and Loki, turned to Strange. "Spare his life," the wizard pleaded, "and I will give you the time stone."_

* * *

"That little-" Nebula shouted every unprintable name imaginable for the second time that day, whirling around and angrily punching a somehow still standing wall. She let out a guttural scream, and found herself laughing at the irony of the fact that _she_ was the one that they had been loathe to trust. How long had Loki been planning to betray them? Had he been working with Thanos all along?

"Guys, Peter needs medical attention?" said Tony, "Strange, can you get us back to Earth?"

"I've traveled to different dimensions. Of course I can get us to Earth."

* * *

 **Sorry, not sorry! (Bwa-ha-ha-ha!)**

 **Never fear though, because I have a plan, and not twelve percent of one either.**

 **Have a nice day/morning/evening/night!**


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you okay?" Wanda panted, examining Vision's wound.

Vision started to nod, but then cringed in pain and let out a small shriek as the gem on his head emitted a bright glow. "What is it?" Wanda asked, trying to keep her cool. She had to stay calm, she told herself.

Vision looked up at her, blue eyes meeting sea green. "He's here," he said softly, and even someone who didn't know him would be able to detect the fear in the android's voice.

Everything went silent.

Steve had been watching awkwardly while Wanda tried to help Vision, but now he turned around and pressed a hand to his earpiece. "Everyone, on my position. We have incoming."

"What the hell?" Natasha muttered. Seriously, not even five minutes of peace? Everyone spent about a minute waiting tensely, afraid of the showdown but hating the anticipation even more. The only thing worse than a horrible battle is knowing that said battle is coming and being able to do nothing but wait.

It was Bruce that spotted the blue portal that almost seemed to be made of smoke. And he found it almost hard to breathe when a certain Mad Titan stepped through it. Wanda readied her scarlet energy, Natasha wrapped her hand around her shotgun, and Steve clutched his Wakandan shields like lifelines, which they probably were.

"Cap," said Bruce, with a quaver in his voice, "that's hi-" But he didn't finish his sentence. He just stared, in open mouthed shock, at the person who had stepped out from behind Thanos. Loki certainly looked a lot healthier than the last time Bruce had seen him, and rather than trying to fight Thanos, he seemed to be _with_ Thanos. Had it all been a trick? Had the God of Mischief been working for Thanos all along, secretly planning the death of Thor this entire time?

Bruce didn't even think. He just lunged at the pair, ready to beat the crap out of them, fist raised. Thanos didn't even flinch. The space stone glowed, and Bruce felt an odd sensation as he flew right through Thanos, and found himself trapped in a white slab of rock with a glow from the reality stone. Cap ran towards them, but was flung to the side effortlessly, losing his shields.

This really was a lot easier than Loki had anticipated.

T'challa lunged at Thanos, but the Titan slammed the king to the ground _hard_ , probably giving him a good concussion. Sam flew towards Thanos, guns blazing, but with another glow from the reality stone, the machinery in his wings shorted out and he crashed to the ground with his fellow teammates.

"Wanda," said Vision urgently, "it's time." He gave her hand a squeeze.

"No," Wanda said forcefully.

"They can't stop him Wanda," Vision insisted, trying to remain calm, "but we can. Look at me." The girl turned around, breathing heavily. "You have to power to destroy the stone-"

"Don't"

"You must do it Wanda, please." Vision held her hand to his cheek. "We..are...out of time," he said sadly, hoping she understood that there was no other way.

Wanda shook her head. "I _can't_."

"It's alright," said Vision, trying to remain calm for her sake, "you could never hurt me. I'll just feel you."

Wanda couldn't help it. She couldn't help the tears in her eyes that she didn't bother to brush away, and she couldn't help that fact that Vision was right, _goddamnit!_ "I love you," she whispered, a phrase for just them to know, and it really did feel like their phrase in that moment, because everything seemed to have stopped in that moment, and it was just them, for the last time. She took a step back, telling herself to pretend that she would only be destroying the mind stone, not Vision. She took a deep breath, and let the red energy loose.

Rhodey flew above Thanos, shooting the Titan with his big gun to keep him away from Wanda and Vision, but with a clench of his fist, Rhodey was thrown to the ground. Bucky ran at the two, yelling a hoarse battle cry, but Thanos blasted him and Okoye, who had been trying to throw her spear at the Titan, to the ground. Natasha was buried under a pile of sharp-looking rocks, and Loki almost flinched at this one, at the look she was giving him. Groot sent his powerful vines at Thanos, but the tree was knocked aside easily.

Then, there was Steve Rogers, coming at Thanos as hard as he could, punching the Titan with all his might. He even managed to hold back the gauntlet, an impressive feat, for a few seconds, before Thanos dealt a rough blow to the soldier's head, a blow that Loki thought would surely be fatal, even to the captain, if he didn't receive medical attention ASAP. And nobody noticed the green glow around the god's hand as the captain's breathing returned to normal, and nobody would probably ever know. Which was fine.

It was only Wanda and Vision now. As Thanos approached, Wanda held him back with energy from her other hand, now destroying an infinity stone while holding back the other six. But Loki she could never destroy it. Thor, in all his power, had been incapable of it. But he couldn't but be a tad bit impressed anyways. Perhaps, in another life, the two would have had a lot in common, but destiny was a wicked thing.

Wanda gritted her teeth as tears streamed down her face. One more blast of energy…

The stone violently shattered, throwing Loki and Wanda to the ground and sending a blinding yellow blast through the forest that they appeared to be standing in. Loki felt a brief flare of respect for the red-haired girl and her powers, and almost wished he had the chance to ask her about them. Then, he hit the ground and heard a horrible _snap_ and felt an awful pain from his right arm. His knife arm.

Thanos approached Wanda and started stroking her hair. "I understand my child," the Titan said sorrowfully, "better than anyone."

Wanda felt disgusted. This monster had as good as killed Vision, and he had a psychotic plan to wipe out half of the universe, and here he was saying that he understood how she felt! "You could never!" she spat fiercely.

Thanos stood up straight. "Today I lost more than you could know, but now is no time to mourn. It's no _time_ at all." And green rings appeared around Thanos' gauntlet as the time stone glowed green….

It all happened in an instant. Suddenly, instead of Wanda holding Thanos back with her power, Thanos was standing over Vision, and Wanda was on the ground. Nobody had any idea how the Titan had done that so suddenly, but Loki couldn't help but notice that the heroes laying behind them had recovered from their injuries. Had Thanos used the time stone.

"No!" Wanda shouted, running at Thanos, but the Mad Titan knocked her out with a blast from the power stone. His large purple fingers curled around the mind stone, and he heartlessly yanked it out. All the color faded from Vision's body as the android went limp as was cast to the ground. And then, the stone was placed into the gauntlet, and shooting burst of energy ripped through the Titan.

Suddenly, the energy flow stopped, and Thanos felt an awful pain in his left arm. Actually, he couldn't feel his arm. He glanced down and felt like he was going to faint.

His arm had been cut clean off, gauntlet included, and was now lying on the ground. And standing behind the Titan, covered in purple blood and holding a long knife, was Loki, who looked a mixture of shocked that he was able to do it, and disgusted by the purple blood.

"What have you _done_?" Thanos whispered.

"I think the phrase is called _avenging_ ," Loki said quietly.

"No…" Thanos said angrily. All that loss, all that planning, only to be foiled in an instant with nothing but a blade. These were his last thoughts as his head was removed from his body.

Loki stared at the defeated form of the Mad Titan, the creature that had haunted him for so long, finally vanquished. Then, a green glow caught his eye. The time stone, balanced on the thumb of the gauntlet. Loki knew it probably wasn't the best idea, but he found himself reaching for the stone, his hand curling around it. He felt a burning energy rippling through him, and a brilliant flash of green before everything went black.

* * *

 **Last chapter before the epilogue!**

 **I'm super proud of myself, this being the first story I've ever finished, or, written on here period. Thank u, thank u, for the reviews ;)!**

 **See you at the epilogue!**


	11. Epilogue

**Hello readers present and future!**

 **I finally got around to updating! It was just so hard for me to get around to writing this, but I finally did, so yay me! :)**

 **Well, here it is. The epilogue. I hope you enjoy.**

 **DISCLAIMER: Did I own any of this in the previous chapters? No. Do I own any of this now, or for the foreseeable future? Most likely not.**

* * *

 **The Sun Has Gone Out**

It was suddenly very dark.

The last thing Loki remembered was his bloodied and bruised hand closing around the time stone, the green energy ripping through him like electricity. He may have screamed, he may have fallen to the ground, his every instinct may have told him to let go, but he held on. He remembered what Thanos said all to vividly, and the irony was almost hilarious. _You could never wield it without frying yourself_. In that arena, at least, Thanos had not lied.

In the moments in which Loki believed he would take his last breath, he held one last memory, of his big brother's last moments, his last words: "You're going to die for that!" Well, the God of Thunder hadn't been wrong. At least Loki had fulfilled his brother's final promise, and at least Thor's death would not be in vain. But he wished he had done something differently, maybe if he hadn't acted so brashly, both brothers could have lived. Or at least, the one who deserved it more.

And now, Loki was here, in this darkness so contrasting to the bright sun of Wakanda. And it seemed to be somehow even _hotter_ here than it had been in the African country. Was this Hel? Somehow, Loki had expected it to be a lot brighter, but again, he still didn't know what Hel looked like, so he couldn't really have expectations for the place, he supposed.

Suddenly, he heard voices. Instinct had him duck out of sight. He risked peeking into the next room, to see where he was. He nearly gasped aloud at what he saw.

It looked like a mirror image of the spaceship they had fled Asgard on - after Thanos had destroyed it. There was wreckage and bodies everywhere. There was an odd purple lighting to the place. And there, in the center of the room, was a large figure that Loki was all too accustomed too by now. Thanos.

 _I thought I killed that bastard! What the f-_

And then, he saw the person struggling to get to his feet, coughing up blood. And all the breath left Loki's chest, because he _knew_ that person - better than anyone else in the universe.

"Brother?" Loki whispered, sinking to the ground a scooting towards Thor, who looked up at loki. Thor didn't understand the expression on his brother's face, like it had been so long since they'd seen each other, but he knew it was better than Loki's I'm-going-to-stab-you-now face.

"Loki?" Thor asked, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He felt his brother's hand on his back, and was surprised at how cool it seemed. A second later, though, warm energy coursed through the thunderer as his injuries all healed.

"Stay here," the younger sibling whispered.

This time, Loki knew exactly where to find the blade. And he knew exactly when to step in with a quippy line, so maybe Thanos or the Black Order wouldn't notice the protection spell the trickster was casting on Thor. Maybe only one of them could live, and if it had to be one of them, it had to be Thor.

An ear splitting _crack_ reverberates through the ship.

* * *

 **The end.**


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